GM: Carl Choiniere
Coach: Andre Tourigny
Last season: 23rd overall. Did not make playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Jesper Bratt (trade), Nolan Patrick (free agent), Braden Schneider (trade), Mathieu Joseph (trade), Pyotr Kochetkov (free agent), Jacob Bryson (trade), Christoph Korner (free agent), Jindrich Barak (free agent), Denver Barkey (trade), Jason Dickinson (trade), Egor Surin (trade),
Out: Calvin Thurkauf (free agent), Sam Bennett (free agent), Yegor Sharangovich (trade), Brett Pesce (free agent), Tyler Kleven (trade), Aliaksei Protas (trade), Wyatt Kaiser (trade), Egor Chinakhov (trade), Denis Grybko (free agent), Daniil Tarasov (free agent), Carl Dahlstrom (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Jason Dickinson/Nolan Patrick/Jesper Bratt
Cutter Gauthier/Ryan McLeod/Tyson Foerster
Alex Formenton/Ties Van Soest/Mathieu Joseph
Mauro Neurauter/Marco Rossi/Logan Stankoven
Ty Smith/Zach Werenski
Jacob Bryson/Olen Zellweger
Sean Durzi/Michael Kesselring
Pyotr Kochetkov/Cayden Primeau
A Question
What are Oslo’s best assets? Within a few weeks from the start of Season 19, Oslo’s lineup looked pretty much set, however the team was still about a half a million dollars below the salary floor, which the owner would like to be at because it means revenue sharing money. After plummeting to 23rd in the standings last season, the owner would probably consider reaching the salary floor a rare victory. The Outlaws have brought in some good players this off season such as Jesper Bratt and Nolan Patrick, but they also lost Calvin Thurkauf, Sam Bennett and Yegor Sharangovich – their top three scorers. It’s pretty apparent Oslo is still in the market for young players, prospects and picks. Jason Dickinson is an excellent defensive forward, but he’s renting in Norway, not buying. He knows that as the only forward over 30, he should at least have a plan in place in case he has to move the family to another city one of these Season 19 days. Even the great defenseman Zach Werenski can’t feel safely rooted in Norway. He’s an excellent skater and puck handler and he’s smart on the ice. His memory is also good enough to recall that General Manager Carl Choiniere traded away Connor McDavid, Matt Murray, Viktor Antipin, Jacob Moverare and Kyle Connor a year ago. How could he forget? To move Werenski, Choiniere might propose eating $5.1 million of his $10.2 salary. He will need a team with that much cap room who is willing to yield some prized young assets to land the 31-year-old star. Enough about the problems in ChoiniereLand, how about the reasons for optimism? The team has 12 players (that’s more than half a starting lineup) with salaries under $2 million and PO ratings of 77 or higher. That’s a good foundation if you are building a team. Choiniere also has eight prospects who were picked in the Top 20 of the last four NHL drafts. He has all nine of his draft picks for the next three drafts, plus two extra first-round picks and an extra second-rounder. And, he’s got all that cap space to work with. Now all he has to do is call up Matt Savoie to reach the salary floor and we’ll call this season a good one. (Editor’s note: The part about Werenski’s salary was edited after Carl corrected us on it.)
Rose’s Focus
“I do my job well. I also do the commissioner’s job well but he refuses to share the huge salary he gets for watching TV and napping. The only Oslo Outlaw who did his job well last season was Andre Tourigny. As the least talented coach available, Tourigny was paid $2.15 million by General Manager Carl Choiniere to suck and to drag the team down the standings. He couldn’t get past the Madrid Royals, but Tourigny got the team all the way to 23rd. Nice job, Andre. You just became a legend. For you aspiring EURO League head coaches who want to emulate Tourigny, try doing what he did: instruct your team have more goals scored on it than any team in history. Opponents managed to rip 373 goals into the Oslo net at a pace of 4.55 goals per game. The Outlaws allowed 33.55 shots per game, but that was only fourth from the bottom, so Tourigny got what he wanted out of goalies Caiden Primeau and Daniil Tarasov. They finished with the two worst goals against averages in the league and two of the three worst save percentages. Kevin Lankinen of London snuck in there at 86.6 to bump Primeau down to third worst. On Aug. 5, Choiniere resigned Tourigny for another season at $1.94 million. I presume the pay cut was for not finishing last in shots allowed. Let’s see if Andre can get the team another record this season.”
